Until Death Do Us Part
by Decepticon-silverstreak
Summary: "Now, now Anna-banana. You did me promise till death do us part." He hissed in her face, his cuffs digging in tight around her neck. "I know, Jack."
1. The Beginning of the End

Vanish'd days of bliss and woe

Haunt me with their tone,

Joy and grief in turns I know,

As I stray alone

~To the Moon by Johann von Goethe

The air was cold; damp.

It was almost as if the world knew that she was suffering and wanted to punish her for it more. Anna pushed on, wrapping the thin sweater tighter around her body. Small clouds of smoke escaped her mouth with every exhale, reminding far too much of the smoking building earlier. Time was short and Anna had already wasted time trying to get Jay and Jeannie to safety.

_Not like it'll help._ She thought darkly, quickening her pace. _If Jack want's to find us, it wouldn't be hard for him._ It did hurt that her once husband had turned into a deranged killing psychopath. The minute Anna heard his laugh on the TV, with those deep scars stretching his mouth wide, she called Jeannie, who also knew was beyond pissed once she found out that it was her brother terrorizing Gotham. The two of them, Jeannie and her, have been doing everything they could to keep this information reaching her son's ears.

Anna knew she had to speak with Commissioner Gordon.

_Or Batman. _

Either one of them, she didn't care. They could prevent anymore of Jack's deranged madness poisoning the city, prevent more blood spilling onto the ground and onto his hands. She knew that Jack would and could do anything to prove his mad, his _insane_ point to all of Gotham. Anna jumped as her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she quickly pulled it open, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Hello?" Anna asked, shoving her way past other pedestrians on the side walk and dashed across the street, ignoring the blaring horns of pissed drivers wanting her out of the road.

"_Hurry the fuck up Ann! These fucking cops are giving me dirty looks and I don't have time for their fuckin' bullshit." _Jeannie's voice snarled over the phone, sounding tired and pissed as well. Both she and the cops have never exactly got along. Scratch that, there was no getting along. She had her own long and dirty record for when she was running around with the gangs looking for quick cash. No the best person to be "hanging out" in a police station, waiting on certain people.

_I'm never going to hear the end of it from her. Especially after what's happening tonight._

"Where's Jay? Is he with you?" Worry filled her tone, for she had no idea if the Joker tried to make a grab at her son. _Their son. _Cold sweat built on her brow, but Anna couldn't care less about it. If Jack took their son, she knew she's put a bullet in his head herself. After what he did the last time Jay was around him, Anna knew there was no love left for his son. And Anna had none left for Jack _its Joker now _considering Jeannie all but threw him out of their lives.

"_Of course he aint with me, are you friggin crazy?! I stuck 'em over with Scarlett. He hates her, but he'll be fine." _There was a pause on the other end of the line; Jeannie's breathing causing static to brush the edges of the phone. _"How far are ya? The longer I sit here, the sooner shithead figures out it's me."_

She rolled her eyes. Once you met Jeannie, you'd always know it was her. Jeannie was this hulking figure, reaching five eleven, dark down hair reaching her chin, with lithe muscles and small breasts. She could and often does pass off for a man when she wears her typical baggy clothing. She was far from pretty, with a Cheshire grin all too similar to her brother that had been carved into her face by ruthless loan sharks.

Well, they only made it a matching set. The right side of Jeannie's face had been torn apart during a car wreck, the airbag not going off and slab of metal slicing through one side. Then loan sharks later came and shredded the other side. But after they were done with her, blood spewing on the table and floor, gurgling in her throat trying not to scream in agony and make the injury worse, they turned onto Jack, laughing as they tore his face apart. Anna grimaced. That little incident had happened four years before she arrived in Gotham with her mother. It's what sealed the deal on fully making Jack an outcast in their high school.

"_Anna!" _Jeannie roared from the other end of the phone, which caused her to jolt sharply, harshly ramming into a cold lamp post. Rubbing her arm with her eyes rolling, she quickly dashed up the steps and towards the MCU building.

"I'm outside." She spat waspishly, not in the least bit caring how she sounded. They were both stressed out of their fucking wits, so having a bit of attitude wasn't as big of a deal.

"_Fuckin' finally." _ With that Jeannie hung up, leaving Anna alone as she quickly clambered up the stone steps to the door. A cop opened the door, actually gracing a smile and giving a warm ma'am; Anna had trouble giving the smile back as she stepped inside. The air inside MCU was warm thankfully, and Anna was rudely greeted by Jeannie who strutted over while looked pissed beyond belief. Her shoulders were hunched over, making her look even bigger than she already was, and Anna couldn't help but think that she looked like a pissed alley cat.

"S'bout time you got here Ann. Do you have _any_ idea how many times the 'fuckin pigs checked to make sure I wasn't a crook_? Unfuckin' believable_..." Jeannie furiously muttered, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Before Anna had the chance to speak, two cops strode forward, one man and one woman.

"Mrs. Napier, Commissioner Gordon." The older man stated, sticking a worn hand out which Anna shook firmly. He looked over at Jeannie who was behind her, but was smart enough and made no further comment.

"Congrats on the promotion_, Commish_." Jeannie grunted, while Anna just rolled her eyes at her sister in law's antics.

"Thank you. You said you have information about the Joker?"

Anna paused, and considered not saying anything, running far, far away with Jay to someplace safe. Such a fantasy was wonderful, but she knew she had to tell Gordon before Joker became a horrible reckoning on Gotham. This was her only chance to make things right, and give the cops a chance at even attempting to prevent any more of this anarchist violence growing. He'd already ruthlessly murdered Judge Surillo and the former Commissioner Loeb.

"Yes." She responded looking over her shoulder, shivering slightly seeing all of the crooks locked up in their cells with cops taunting and yelling and prodding from the sides, much like animals and keepers in a zoo. Some paused to stare at Jeannie's scars, until she gave them a withering look. Gordon seemed to notice both of their discomforts, and quickly made an offer to the two of them.

"Ramirez. Go and check up on those DNA sets; I've got it from here." Anna watched the Latina women nod, before bustling away. "Here. Why don't we go back to my office so we can talk further in private?" Anna nodded, and then Gordon led them to his small, over crowded office. People stared as they walked back, primarily at Jeannie. The trip to the back was mercifully short, Anna knew if one more cop or crook gawked, Jeannie she would go bat shit crazy on a few of them.

_As if she hadn't already done that multiple times before._ She thought fondly. Jeannie could be a real challenge, as if she didn't already know that. Jeannie knew it for a fact, strutted it was an almost crazed fondness.

Gordon pulled out his keys, jingling as he unlocked the door and stepped aside to let them in. She quickly took a seat in the small black chair, but Jeannie stubbornly stood back against the wall, tapping her foot against it. Sitting down at his desk over flowing with cases and reports, Gordon pulled out a pad of paper and pen. He took a deep breathe, and then spoke.

"So what is your relation to the Joker Mrs. Napier?" Gordon questioned strongly, not wasting any time to try and warm her up. Ann ignored Jeannie's snort behind her. _Now is not the time to be a smart ass. _

"I'm his wife. Jeannie is his older sister." Anna stated calmly, nerves bundles tight. She carefully watched Gordon as his jaw fell slightly in shock; obviously he was not expecting this kind of information to just be dropped in his lap with little work.

"What's the Joker's real name?" She looked at Jeannie, who took a deep breath and nodded.

_God help me for what I'm about to do._

"Jack Napier."


	2. Well Now We Know

A/N: Thank you Miss Singing in the Rain and xSiriuslyPadfoot for the first reviews! You guys are totally amazing and I send you thousands of cookies and hugs. I'd also like to thank those who favorite and who followed! You are also amazing and you deserve to have pet dolphins and ride the waves like mighty Neptune. Now, on with the story!

Now he's gone, I don't know why

Until this day sometimes I cry

He didn't even say Goodbye

He didn't take the time to lie

~ "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra

The cold air was a wonderful welcome for Gordon as he stood on the roof top of MCU. The SWAT suit was constricting, layers of bullet proof material weighing down on him. Of course, it did its job extremely well but the sweat sliding down the spine of his back he could do without. Thankfully at the moment there was no further need for it.

They had caught the Joker.

However once the media had gotten wind of the Joker being held in holding at MCU, hundreds of phone calls came pouring in the system. Most were reporters, wanting an interview with either Gordon himself or strangely enough, the Joker. Why the people in Gotham always, and he means _always_ have a fascination with the sick always baffled him beyond belief. Nonetheless, one phone call for some reason had peculiarly stood out from the others. A call had been forwarded to Gordon's desk, a woman claiming that she had legitimate information about the Joker. Normally, these kinds of people who claimed this would be put on a list to be "questioned", but Gordon and the police at MCU were sadly completely desperate for any scrap of information that anyone had. Gordon knew completely that he was taking a risk of actually taking the random woman in. If the woman was actually connected to the Joker in any way…

_Damn. _He sighed, bringing the steaming coffee to his mouth, taking a well needed sip of the cup of joe.

There was a huge risk in doing this. Hell there was always a risk doing this. False or misleading information could be brought in which could send the case on a wild goose chase throughout Gotham that always ended cold. Gordon looked at his watch, noting that there was about twenty minutes until the woman arrived. There was already a rather, _strange_ woman waiting for her on the first floor, causing some uneasiness with many of the other cops due to the _condition_ of her face. The eerie similarity to a certain other was just something that they were going to have to deal with. His men were smart; they wouldn't try anything, not when they were all too paranoid with watching the Joker, like some sort of wild, almost exotic, _dangerous_ animal in his cage.

"Mrs. Napier is almost here."

"_Jesus Christ_!" Gordon exclaimed in shock as he whirled around at the source of the noise, heart jumping (slightly due to the caffeine) in his chest, and a black figure slowly walked forward and out of the shadows that simply seemed to wrap around him. Gordon swore silently to himself for being off guard _again_ around Batman. Exactly how a man could silently walk on _gravel _of all things he didn't know and definitely didn't trust anyone who could. He was sure that he could bet money that Batman simply enjoyed sneaking out of the shadows like a ghost or boogeyman of some sort. _He probably does, gets some sort of kick or amusement of it._

Gordon nodded as he sipped more of the liquid caffeine that one day will most likely kill him instead of a bullet from a crook's gun. The city was quiet after the loud explosions that had rocked the city from earlier. Lights twinkled far and wide off of glass skyscrapers that seemed to blend into the sky with the barely visible stars. Cars were still about, but there was practically no one out on the sidewalks. A smart move on all of their parts, after today's completely terrible mess downtown.

"Dent called you a hero. Do you think people will soon say the same?"

"No."

It didn't come as a surprise for Gordon as he heard the clipped response. Despite what most considered heroic actions from him, he still had many people that hated him for their own reasons. They feared him. Didn't understand him. Gordon understood though; Batman wasn't a cop or even a soldier. He couldn't be controlled by the law. He couldn't be held down by the shackles that prevented good men from being fully able to do their job. He was simply above it, fulfilling justice no matter what.

"I pulled the files on the two women. The first, Anna Napier, was clean, other than one vandalism incident as a juvenile. She's married, but her husband has been gone for over six years. His files are practically empty. No photo ID, no records other than a birthdate and an address." Gordon huffed, irritation bubbling slightly. It was obvious that someone had done all the clearing for him. Before Loeb started doing crack downs on corruption, it was easy for a person to just simply _disappear _from the system_._ Pay quite a few grand to someone in the mob and bam. Done. Gone. Forever. Just like that.

"Someone had loose ends cleared up." Batman's voice murmured gravely, and Gordon nodded, running his hand through his hair causing it to become even more ruffled. "And the other woman?"

"Jeannie Napier. Long record with aggravated assault, arson, drug possession, theft, and vandalism. It mostly started after the city took her son after the father was murdered by a group of loan sharks he owed money to. She was running odd jobs for gangs but now she's been mostly clean in the past five years though." _Jesus, with a record like this I'm surprised that murder just so happens to not be thrown in there. _Gordon thought bitterly, knowing damn well that the woman had most likely killed someone before but instead got away with it. "I'm guessing you're going to want to speak with them before you question the Joker?"

"Yes." Batman rasped, rounding towards the edge of the rooftop, dark cape still managing to cloak him. Gordon frowned at exactly _what the hell _he was doing, before realizing jumping rooftops was a regular part of Batman's forte, so he didn't bother to question him. Batman worked in his own ways and there was no point in bothering him.

"My office. I'll take them there."

"Good."

He jumped off, black cape flying wide open, like his very own set of wings as he glided down. Gordon gave a soft chuckle, and walked towards the door, finishing the coffee which had gotten slightly cold from being outside so long. He had work to do downstairs. And this certain piece of work simply couldn't wait any longer.

* * *

><p><em>"So what is your relation to the Joker Mrs. Napier?" Gordon questioned strongly, not wasting any time to try and warm her up. Ann ignored Jeannie's snort behind her. Now is not the time to be a smart ass. <em>

_"I'm his wife. Jeannie is his older sister." Anna stated calmly, nerves bundles tight. She carefully watched Gordon as his jaw fell slightly in shock; obviously he was not expecting this kind of information to just be dropped in his lap with little work._

_"What's the Joker's real name?" She looked at Jeannie, who took a deep breath and nodded._

_God help me for what I'm about to do._

_"Jack Napier."_

"You're positive?" Both women jumped sharply from their spots, Jeannie and Anna giving the Batman bewildered looks as he stepped away from the shadows and into the light.

"Well shit." Jeannie gave a harsh laugh, and Anna couldn't help but just _stare_. The Batman. _The_ _Batman. The. Mother fucking. Batman. _If this was any other situation Anna would probably be freaking out, in a good slash holy shit kinda way. _Too bad it happens to be a "oh shit" slash this must be a serious situation. God, Jay would have loved to been here to see this._

"Yes. I've known Jack since high school. I uh," Anna paused, roughly running her hand over her face. "I most likely know him better than anyone else does." She breathed, words feeling like slick poison coating her tongue. The thoughts and images and sounds about him were getting jumbled in her head like a distorted and horrifying painting that she wanted to burn. It had taken _so long_ to move on, to forget, to try and heal the hole in her heart and mind that was _still_ there, and now it was like the dam she built against him had been brutally shattered and those long lost memories came flooding in like a tsunami.

"Yeah well it seems that shithead has come back from the dead. 'Fuckin _bastard._" Jeannie snapped, the deep scars across her cheeks making her sneer seem ten times more violent.

"Jeannie," Anna started softly, but was abruptly cut off by Jeannie.

"_No!_" She practically yelled, causing Anna and Gordon to jump at the sudden increase of noise. Batman remained unmoving in the corner, carefully watching the scarred woman. "If _I _would have gotten rid of him after that night, _none_ of this would have happened."

Anna scowled at her, frustration filling her. She knew that Jeannie was saying most of this out of some lost sense of anger. "It is not your fault. You didn't hit me. You didn't hit Jay." Despite her best efforts to make her voice strong, it still quavered like a shaking leaf desperately holding on to its branch. Jeannie just stared at her, dark eyes squinting in annoyance at her sister-in-law's efforts to try and reason with her. She chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking about something that only she knew about it. Jeannie offered her a flat smile, a dark promise tainting the corners of her pale lips.

"Looks like we don't have Crane to rely on for help this time."

"Crane?"

Anna's eyes turned down, staring at her hands that twisted nervously in her hand. While Anna doubted that Jeannie brought it up _accidently_, it was true. Jonathan was just as much a criminal as Jack was. _Is. He's still alive_. The two of them, Jonathan and her, had gone to Gotham University together. They had meet there and had quite a few classes together. The two of them had become good friends, and he knew about her situation with Jay and didn't judge her for being a young mother. He was there that night Jack went wild, went _mad._ She'd probably be dead or permanently injured if Jonathan hadn't pulled out a gun on Jack.

"_I'll give you one warning. Get your hands off of her and step away." Jonathan demanded sharply, voice as cold as his blue eyes. Jack gave off a piercing, hysterical laugh, tightening his hands around Anna's bruised neck once more before shoving her away to the ground. Anna gasped loudly, much needed air filling her lungs, and then fear began to fill her body as Jack began to advance onto Jonathan like an animal._

"_And __**you**__ must be the little scarecrow she's told me __**all**__ about." He dragged out the l, smiling sickly wide. "So, you uh think that you're gonna play the __**little hero**__? I'm not afraid of guns Johnny boy." Jack's words were harsh, grating, and sharp as razor blades on her ringing ears. Jeannie stood in the corner, bewildered, but holding Jay safely away from the madness before her._

"_**Get away from her.**__"_

"Once upon a time, Crane wasn't insane. He, he helped get Jack away from me." Anna whispered, the silence bothering her as neither Gordon nor Batman said a single word. She shifted in the chair, unsure as to what to say next, for she was this strange little woman who somehow seemed to know Gotham's greatest criminals.

"We looked at his file. It's practically empty. No photo ID, medical records gone, hell not even a workplace. Nothing at all except a date of birth and an old address." Gordon spoke lowly, breaking the quiet tension in the room. Anna nodded her head, knowing full well he would do everything he could to erase his past.

"Jack- He… knew a lot of well-connected people. Don't ask me who because he would never tell me. Jack was crafty and clever whenever he got involved with mobsters." Anna replied, gritting her teeth hard. Part of her desperately wanted nothing more than to go down and strangle the life out of him. The other side simply wanted to ask why. Why he left. Why he was gone so long. Where he had hidden himself away during those long six years. Her mouth began to spill words before her brain caught up with her mouth.

"Let me speak to him."

"Why the _fuck _would you _want _to do that?" Jeannie all but snarled, voice rough on her ears. Anna ignored her, pleading eyes pointedly staring at Gordon silently. She turned and looked at Batman, who had said nothing and remained unmoving. "He's still my husband. I just want to know why." Her voice sounded broken, pitiful. Like a woman who had lost everything and couldn't even turn to some higher up divine to plead and beg for mercy in their sad little life.

Gordon remained speechless for a second, like he couldn't believe the request he was hearing from her. Jeannie remained sitting against the wall, muttering insults and curses in every language she possibly knew. But before Gordon had a chance to deny her the time to speak to him, Batman spoke otherwise.

"Let her talk. I'll be there, she'll be safe."

"We can't allow her to go and speak to him." Gordon shot back strongly, but Batman didn't even bother to reply knowing that he was right. _You can't really argue with the Batman._ Gordon gave an irritated stare at Batman and then just gave a sigh of defeat, shaking his head.

"This is highly, well is, unethical what we are going to do, but isn't exactly a normal situation." Anna simply nodded, knowing damn well if this was any other situation she would never be able to talk with him. Anna didn't speak, not trusting her voice in the slightest, and Jeannie gave a huge scoff, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"Well thank _heaven_ _halleluiah_. You just got yourself a little bitty bat to watch over you." Jeannie glowered at her, but she brushed it off.

Anna swore she saw a corner of Batman's mouth twitch upwards into a smirk, but said nothing of it. _It looks like he can actually smile after all. _Gordon inhaled, turning his gaze towards the ceiling, hoping God will give him mercy to deal with this, and Anna gave a small smile back to Batman.

"Let's get this over with."

* * *

><p>"<em>Jack." Anna murmured softly against his neck, his lean arms wrapped around her shoulders. She was still shivering softly from the cold winter storm outside, but the warm blanket draped over her legs helped warm her up. The apartment's heating was absolute shit, the landlady refusing to spend the money to improve it. The best the two of them could do in the run down Narrow's apartment was bundle up in front of a small heater that half way worked.<em>

"_Just be quiet." His voice was strangely soft spoken, his dark eyes half closed in either thought or exhaustion. Anna said nothing in response, simply pulling the blanket further over her and shifted closer to Jack. A loud rumble began to echo through the apartment as the city's monorail train came rushing by, and as quick as it came it was gone. The loud train was a normal occurrence at all hours of the day for them._

_Anna wanted to say something to calm Jack's nerves, but she didn't know what to say. Jeannie had been missing since last night, and neither of them knew where she could possibly be. Even though Jack didn't tell her, Anna knew that he was checking every possible area where Jeannie "worked", but it seemed pointless. No one had seen her or had a clue at where she could possibly be at. It was like she'd simply disappeared of the face of the earth._

"_We're gonna find her Jack. She knows how to take care of herself."_

"_I know that Anna." He muttered, and she didn't press any harder about it. His face had pinched together in concentration, licking the corner of his scars, eyes dark as he stared at the wall. He began to open his mouth, but closed it just as quick, as if he didn't know what to say. But when he finally opened his mouth and spoke, Anna almost wanted to cry._

"_I'll never let them do anything to you Ann."_

"_I know Jack." Anna gave a soft smile as she pulled him down for a gentle kis-_

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Anna jerked at the voice suddenly next to her, mind ripping away the cobwebs of the old memory that lingered at the edges of her brain. Why she had suddenly recalled it, she didn't know why. Those were the days when she thought it would just be him and her against the world, but they were long gone though; there was no going back to when Jack still loved her and had a gentle touch. Anna swallowed, throat painfully dry as she stared into the dark, empty room where Jack was casually sitting in front of a metal table. It seemed so different, so _strange _being this close to him after six years. His dark sandy hair was completely tainted by the acidic green dye, the face makeup causing his face to look like a demented clown. _I have to do this._

"And Batman's in there right?"

"Yes. If anything should happen, he'll be right on it." Many of the cops around them were staring at Gordon and her, and she didn't blame them, thinking it was crazy to allow a little defenseless woman to go and have a _chat_ with an insane murderer. Anna shuddered slightly, nerves a mess and Gordon reassuringly places his hand on her thin shoulder, saying nothing.

"Well if shithead even _tries_ anything, I'll come in there and beat his ass to a pulp again." Jeannie said to her left, which did cause Anna to smile a little. She had no doubt that Jeannie would go through with her word and do it. She was just aching for a reason to get in there and cause some serious damage to every inch of Jack's body.

"We can do this whenever you're ready Mrs. Napier." _Go. Do it. Just take the steps. Left foot right foot, there you go keep going. _Anna followed Gordon away from the one way windows, and he led her around to a tall metal door. He pulled on the handle, and a sharp loud buzz sounded above them and the door unlocked. Gordon pulled it open, and as the door swung wide open her heart began to hammer like a violent drum inside her chest. Her hands grew clammy, and Anna felt like she was going to start hyperventilating. She said nothing to Gordon as he stepped aside for her to walk through.

_He can't hurt you. He can't hurt you. _She chanted the words over and over again as she stepped into the interrogation room.

The door sharply slammed closed behind her, and once again, just like how it had all started in the beginning, it was just her and Jack.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Sooo, how do you all like the story! Feedback is like mind food for me to get more chapters done. And more chapters mean something to read which will make you all very happy! My plan is to start cracking chapters out once a week but I do get writers block so it might and possibly will vary. Also the song Bang Bang is <em>amazing<em> and you should definitely check out the Nico Vega version! It was used for the _Bonnie and Clyde_ TV special so check it out! Thanks for reading!


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